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Bush, Litchfield Nationalpark, Northern Territory, Australia

Markus Branse has added a photo to the pool:

Bush, Litchfield Nationalpark, Northern Territory, Australia

irwinm16 has added a photo to the pool:

"So here was a book about Japanese fencing, written by two renowned teachers which in its history and tradition section was illustrating real-sword samurai fighting using an actor! Incredible, even if he was "Japan's leading actor of international fame."
Kurosawa's samurai: Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Sanjuro.

Toshiro Mifune turned down Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader roles

The opening day of action at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix saw McLaren end second practice with a 1-2 finish, as Lando Norris led the way from team mate Oscar Piastri. But with Norris warning that the team are “not as comfortable as what we would like”, what does the data say about where the squad stand in relation to their rivals?

Red Bull Ford’s Chloe Chambers fought hard to bring home her first pole position in F1 ACADEMY, logging a 2:04.320 to deny Doriane Pin the top spot by two tenths.

Max Verstappen believes that Red Bull’s RB21 is “still not where I want it to be” despite finishing just behind the McLaren duo in practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Jak Crawford beat Victor Martins in a tightly contested Formula 2 Jeddah Qualifying to take Pole Position on Friday evening, sealing a P1 start for Sunday’s Feature Race.

The Vices

Een gemotoriseerde houten boot vatte vlam en kapseisde. De brand zou zijn uitgebroken nadat een vrouw aan boord aan het koken was. Bootongelukken komen vaak voor in Congo, waar oude houten vaartuigen het belangrijkste vervoermiddel zijn tussen dorpen.

Vandaag weer een ‘ouwe heks’- momentje: bij de kassa van de supermarkt houd ik mijn pinpas tegen het apparaat. Er gebeurt niks.

Sarah Sluimer

Mijn vrouw zei: „Kom nou slapen!”, maar daar moest ik even niet aan denken. Ik was te strijdbaar. Daarbij was het de vraag of ik wel had kunnen slapen.

IBM is mandating that U.S. sales and Cloud employees return to the office at least three days a week, with work required at designated client sites, flagship offices, or sales hubs. According to The Register, some IBM employees argue that these policies "represent stealth layoffs because older (and presumably more highly compensated) employees tend to be less willing to uproot their lives, and families where applicable, than the 'early professional hires' IBM has been courting at some legal risk." From the report: In a staff memo seen by The Register, Adam Lawrence, general manager for IBM Americas, billed the return-to-office for most stateside sales personnel as a "return to client initiative."Citing how "remarkable it is when our teams work side by side" at IBM's swanky Manhattan flagship office, unveiled in September 2024, Lawrence added IBM is investing in an Austin, Texas, office to be occupied in 2026.

Whether US sales staff end up working in NYC, Austin, or some other authorized location, Lawrence told them to brace for -- deep breath -- IBM's "new model" of "effective talent acquisition, deployment, and career progression." We're told that model is "centered on client proximity for those dedicated to specific clients, and anchored on core IBM locations for those dedicated to territories or those in above-market leadership roles." The program requires most IBM US sales staff "to work at least three days a week from the client location where their assigned territory decision-makers work, a flagship office, or a sales hub." Those residing more than 50 miles from their assigned location will be offered relocation benefits to move. Sales hubs are an option only for those with more than one dedicated account.

[...] IBM's office policy change reached US Cloud employees in an April 10 memo from Alan Peacock, general manager of IBM Cloud. Peacock set a July 1, 2025, deadline for US Cloud employees to work from an office at least three days per week, with relocating workers given until October 1, 2025. The employee shuffling has been accompanied by rolling layoffs in the US, but hiring in India -- there are at least 10x as many open IBM jobs in India as there are in any other IBM location, according to the corporation's career listings. And earlier this week, IBM said it "is setting up a new software lab in Lucknow," India.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Just us or is AI increasingly appearing like an unwanted party guest?

Microsoft customers are claiming the Windows giant's Copilot AI service sometimes ignores commands to disable the thing, and thus turns itself back on like a zombie risen from the dead.…

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